The Collection de l’Art Brut

Abrignani, Giovanni

(1899 – 1977), Italy
Giovanni Abrignani was born in Marsala, Sicily. He worked as a mason in many Mediterranean countries. After a respiratory disease, he was taken...

Amar, Paul

(1919-2017), Algeria

A French Sephardic Jew, Paul Amar was born in Algiers, Algeria. At the age of 17 he went to Paris to learn the trade of hairdressing. In 1945,...

Antinéa (Marie-Louise Bergeaud)

(1897 – 1983), France
Prior to her marriage, Marie-Louise Bergeaud works for five years in a tax office. Around the age of thirty-five, she suddenly becomes mute and ...

ARL - Antonio Roseno de Lima

(1926-1998), Brazil

Antonio Roseno de Lima, known as ARL (1926-1998), was born in Alexandria, a small city in northeastern Brazil. From a family of very modest...

Arneval, Benjamin

(1908-?), France
Benjamin Arneval was the youngest child in a farming family in Lozère, France. After his parents’ death, he continued to work on the family farm...

Bachler, Josef

(1914-1979), Austria
Josef Bachler (1914–79) was born in Vienna, Austria. He was orphaned and taken in by an adoptive mother, then placed in various foster homes. He...

Badari, Fausto

(1962), Italy
Fausto Badari (b. 1962) was born in Roverbella, Italy. His parents suffered from psychic disorders and lived in great poverty. His father was a...

Bar, Julie

(1868-1930), Switzerland

Julie Bar. suffers from epilepsy and has a mental disability. Never attending school, she is placed in a clinic at a very early age. Her...

Barbus Müller (Antoine Rabany)

(1844 - 1919), France

The term "Barbus-Müller" was coined by Jean Dubuffet and used in the first Art Brut brochure in 1947 to designate sculptures...

Bartlett, Morton

(1909-1992), USA
Morton Bartlett, orphaned at the age of eight, was adopted by a wealthy couple from Massachusetts. After graduating from Philipps Exeter Academy in...

Bataille Juliette Élisa

(1896-?), France

Juliette Élisa Bataille (1896–?) was born in Pas-de-Calais, France, the third child in a family of ten. She married in 1917 and...

Baya (Fatma Haddad)

(1931–1998), Algeria

Of mixed Kabyle–Arab descent, Baya (1931–1998) was born Fatma Haddad in rural Bordj El Kiffan, known at the time as...

Bekki, Kōmei

(1952, Japan)

Kōmei BEKKI was born in Shiga, a doughnut-shaped prefecture to the east of Kyoto with large Lake Biwa at its center. In Shiga, which is known...

Bentivegna Filippo

(1885 – 1967), Italy

Filippo Bentivegna (1885–1967) was born in Sciacca, Sicily, the second boy in a family of six children. He did not attend school and, at...

Bertanzetti, Daniele

(1984), Italy

Daniele Bertanzetti (1984), is one of three siblings born in Manerbio, an Italian city in the Lombardy region. A person with a form of autism,...

Berthomier Georges

(1897 – 1963), France
Georges Berthomier (1897–1963) was born in Indre-et-Loire, France. He worked as a labourer in the Paris region until he was committed to a...

Bertoliatti, Dominique

(1953-2007), France

Dominique Bertoliatti (1953–2007) was born in Paris, in France, the eldest of three children. He had Down's syndrome and was sent to a special...

Blackstock, Gregory L.

(1946 - 2023), USA

The American Art Brut creator Gregory L. Blackstock (1946 - 2023) is autistic. He reinterprets the universe in the dim light of his cluttered...

Bonjour Benjamin

(1917 – 2000), Switzerland

Benjamin Bonjour (1917–2000) was born in Bex, Switzerland. He lost his parents when he was still a child. A bout of meningitis when he was...

Boschey Édouard

(1907 – 1988), Switzerland
Édouard Boschey (1907–1988) was born in Ostend, Flanders. His father died during the war and the child was sent to Switzerland as a refugee. He was...

Bosco, Giovanni

(1948-2009), Italy
Giovanni Bosco is a native of Castellammare del Golfo, a small town in northwestern Sicily. The second of five brothers, he lived with his mother...

Boussion, Charles

(1925 - 2021), France

Charles Boussion (1925 - 2021), also known as "Cako," was born in Biarritz (France). His father directed a newspaper and his mother, a...

Bouttier, Marie

(1839 – 1921), France

Little is known about Marie Bouttier (1839–1921), known as Madame Bouttier. She was born in Lyon, France, into a family of canut silk...

Braillon, David

(1970), France
David Braillon (b. 1970) was born in Dreux, France, and grew up in a railway family. His father and brother were killed in motor accidents when he...

Braz, Albino

(1896-1950), Brazil
A farmer of Italian origin who settled in Brazil, Albino Braz is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Interned in the Juqueri psychiatric hospital in Sao...

Bruly Bouabré, Frédéric

(1923-2014), Côte d’Ivoire

Born in Zéprégüé, Côte d'Ivoire, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré (1923–2014) belonged to the...

Brunet, Guy

(1945), France

Guy Brunet was 16 when he began...

Brunetti Luigi

(1905 – 1972), Italy

Luigi Brunetti (1905–1972) was born in Gottolengo, Lombardy, Italy. His family were poor peasants; his mother died when he was five and...

Byam, John

(1929 - 2013), USA

John Byam (1929 - 2013) was born in Oneonta in New York State, USA. As a boy he helped his parents, who owned a camping ground. In the 1940s he...

Cammi, Marcello

(1912-1994), Italy

Marcello Cammi (1912–1994) was born on the Ligurian coast near San Remo, Italy. During his youth, he worked in the family business, which...

Chand, Nek

(1924 - 2015), Pakistan

Nek Chand was born in the village of Berian Kalan, in what is now Pakistan. Later, he emigrated to India with his family and in 1950 settled in...

Chawan, Kashinath

(ca. 1950) , India
Kashinath Chawan draws in ballpoint pen on torn cardboard or pieces cut out from salvaged shoe boxes, or else on used pieces of paper found on the...

Corbaz, Aloïse

(1886-1964), Switzerland

Aloïse Corbaz, known as Aloïse (1886 - 1964), was born in Lausanne (Switzerland) to a large family of modest means; at thirteen, she...

Costa, Fernand

(unknown), France
We have very little information about this creator. In about 1948, Fernand Costa, then around forty, is one of a number of patients cared for in...

Courson, Alphonse Eugène

(1846-1920), France

Alphonse Eugène Courson (1846–1920) was born in Paris and grew up amid the political turmoil of the Second French Empire. He joined...

Crépin, Fleury-Joseph

(1875-1948), France

Fleury-Joseph Crépin, known as Joseph Crépin, was born at Hénin-Liétard in northern France. He did various jobs...

Dalla Valle, Antonio

(1939–2020), Italy

Antonio Dalla Valle (1939–2020) was born in Roncio, in the province of Trento, in northern Italy. Brought up heavy-handedly by his distant...

Darger, Henry

(1892-1973), USA

Henry Darger was born in Chicago, USA. In 1896 his mother died. The boy lived alone with his father for a year. He was then placed in a home,...

De Mauri, Diego

(1963), Switzerland

Diego De Mauri (1963) was born in Lausanne, Switzerland. A heart attack a few days after his birth left him handicapped. He did not talk until...

Deeds, James Edward

(1908-1987), USA
James Edward Deeds was born in Panama in 1908: here his family was stationed during his father's stint as a naval officer with the USS Marblehead....

Delaunay, Serge

(1956), Belgium
Serge Delaunay (b. 1956) was born in Charleroi, Belgium. His mother left when he was small, and his father returned to his native France in 1968,...

Demkin, Georges

(1930–1996), France

Georges Demkin (1930–1996) was born in Antibes, France, although he was of Russian descent. He served throughout the French military...

Derkenne, Eric

(1960 - 2014), Belgium

Eric Derkenne (1960-2014) was born in Stavelot (Belgium) to a wealthy family that included many siblings. Suffering severely from Down's...

Derriennic, Emmanuel

(1908-1965), France

Emmanuel Derriennic (1908–1965) was born in Guingamp, France. He came from a working-class family profoundly...

Di Giovanni, Curzio

(1957), Italy

Curzio di Giovanni was originally from Lodi, in the Milan region of Italy. After several stays in a psychiatric environment, he was admitted to...

Domsic, Janko

(1915 – 1983), Croatia/ France

Janko Domsic (1915–1983) was born in Malunje, Croatia. He seems to have completed only elementary school, and the circumstances...

Doudin, Jules

(1884-1946), Switzerland

Born in Payerne, Switzerland, Jules Doudin came from a family of ten children. When he was 11, his life was marked by his father’s...

Duf, Gaston

Born in the mining region of the Pas-de-Calais, France, Gaston Duf came from a family of ten children. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to a...

Dufrène, Gaël

(1971), France

Gaël Dufrène (1971) was born in Queue-en-Brie, a village near Paris, to a family with three children (a big sister and two half-sisters from his...

Duhem, Paul

(1919-1999), Belgium

Paul Duhem was born in Blandain, Belgium. He left school at 14 and worked as a farmhand for various agricultural concerns. During the Second...

Elijah

(1953), Jamaica

Elijah (1953) was born in Alderton, Jamaica. She was raised in a Christian family and her mother was a priestess in a church. After completing...

End, Paul

(1895-?), France
Paul End (1895-?) was born in the populous and highly industrialized region of Pas-de-Calais in...

Evans, Minnie

(1892 – 1987), USA

Minnie Evans (1892–1987) was born in Long Creek, North Carolina, USA. Soon after her birth, Evans moved to Wilmington with her mother, who...

Failloubaz Samuel

(1903 – 1975), Switzerland
Samuel Failloubaz (1903–1975) was born in Vevey, Switzerland. After elementary school, he worked in a range of jobs as a journeyman, an unskilled...

Filaquier, Henri

(1901 - ?), France
Henri Filaquier is the seventh child of a farming family. His primary school teacher remarks on his “abnormal” behavior. Later, probably on the...

Fischer, Johann

 (1919 - 2008), Austria

Born in Eggendorf, Austria, Johann Fischer comes from a farming family. Mobilised in the German army during the Second World War, he was taken...

Fleuri, Yves-Jules

(1960), France

Yves-Jules Fleuri (1960) was born in Lincelles, near Lille (France). His parents, who were circus workers, died when Yves-Jules was but six. The...

Florent

(1885 – 1955), France

Florentin Constant, called Florent (1885– 1955), came from a farming family in Seine-Maritime, France. He worked at a series of jobs...

Forestier, Auguste

(1887-1958), France

Born in the Lozère region of France, Auguste Forestier was born in a farming family. He was always fascinated by trains and on several...

Fraisse, Clément

(1901-1980), France

Born in a village in the Lozère region of France, Clément Fraisse came from a farming family with 14 children. He received a...

Fusco, Sylvain

(1903-1940), France

Sylvain Fusco (1903-1940) was born in Lyon, one of nine children, only five of whom survived infancy. He learned the craft of...

Futai, Sadanobu

(1917 - 1988), Japan

Sadanobu Futai (1917 - 1988) was born in Japan. He became a resident of Mizonuki Home, a facility that opened in the Kyoto...

G., Louis-Henri

(1875-1952), Switzerland

There is almost no information on Louis-Henri G. (1875–1952). He was treated at Cery hospital in 1913, but only left when he was transferred to...

Gabritschevsky, Eugen

(1893-1979), Russia

Eugen Gabritschevsky was born in Moscow, Russia. The son of a renowned bacteriologist, he studied biology and specialised in genetics. He was...

Galli, Giovanni

(1954), Italy

Giovanni Galli (b. 1954) was born in Florence, Italy, and worked for a time in his father's company as a perfume and cosmetics salesman. On his...

García Cortízas, Federico

(1971), Cuba

Federico García Cortízas has loved drawing since childhood. His creations depict imaginary woodlands. They are composed of complex...

Giavarini, Joseph

(1877-1934), Italy

Joseph Giavarini (The Prisoner of Basle) was born in a village near Parma, Italy. He lived at his godfather’s house together with his...

Gie., Robert

(1869-?), Switzerland
Robert Gie. is a carpenter before he is hospitalized in a psychiatric institution at Rosegg from 1908 to 1922 due to hallucinatory disorders. From...

Gironella, Joaquim Vicens

(1911-1997), Spain

Joaquim Vicens Gironella was born in Agullana, in the Catalonian Pyrenees,  a Spanish region abounding in cork trees. Hailing from a family...

Godi, Jules

(1902-1986), Italy

Originally from Italy, Jules Godi (1902–1986) worked as a mason until he retired near Draguignan, in the Var, France. He was also a dowser...

Goetze, Helga

(1922-2008), Germany

Helga Goetze was born in Magdeburg, in eastern Germany. For more than twenty years she gave provocative “performances” in the heart of Berlin....

Golz, Michael

1957, Germany

Michael Golz was born in Munich in 1957. As a child he caught a viral infection that, after giving him a high fever over several days, left him...

Gordon, Ted

(1924), USA

Harold Theodore Gordon (b. 1924), known as Ted Gordon, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, as the eldest son in a Jewish family. Abandoned by...

Guo, Fengyi

(1942-2010), China

Guo Fengyi was born in Xi’an, Shanxi Province, in China, where she still lives. In 1962 she passed her secondary school leaving...

Gustav (Gustav Schaefer)

(1885-?), Germany
Following the death of his father, Gustav grows up in a Catholic orphanage. At twenty-six, he leaves Germany and moves successively to Italy and...

Hagino, Toyo

(1938), Japan

Toyo Hagino (1938) was born in Tokyo, Japan. She was placed, aged eighteen, in an establishment for the mentally handicapped in...

Haus, Oscar

(1939 - 2018), Belgium
As a child, Oscar Haus got along badly with his parents, suffering from the violence his father inflicted on his mother, with whom he was...

Hauser, Johann

(1926-1996), Slovakia

Johann Hauser was born in Pressburg – now Bratislava – in Slovakia. The child was placed in a special school and remained...

Heer

(1946), Suisse
Heer (1946) was born in Switzerland and showed early signs of mental handicap. His father died when he was six, and his mother was obliged to have...

Helmut

(1945), Germany
Helmut (Helmut Nimczewski, 1945 or 1946) was born in Heidelberg, Germany. He was brought up by his mother and never knew his father. Retarded,...

Hernandez, Miguel

(1893-1957), Spain
Miguel Hernandez plies several trades, including hairdressing, before taking part in the Spanish Civil War in forces opposed to General Franco....

Herrera Magali

(1914 – 1992), Uruguay

Magali Herrera (1914–1992) was born in Rivera, Uruguay. She came from a family of notables and taught herself dancing, acting, and...

Heuer, Joseph

(1827-1914), Switzerland
Of German origin, Joseph Heuer has jobs as a cabinetmaker and bookbinder, and works ruling registers before embarking on an army career. For...

Hirschter, Dunya

(1954 - 2008), Croatia

Dunya Hirschter (1954 - 2008), officially named Dunjya Koprolčec, was born in Osijek (Yugoslavia, now Croatia, near the Hungarian and Serbian...

Hodinos, Emile Josome

(1853-1905), France

Joseph Ernest Ménétrier, known as Emile Josome Hodinos, was born in Paris to baker parents. His father died when the boy was...

Hofer, Josef

(1945), Austria

Of Austrian origin, Josef Hofer was born in Wegscheid, Bavaria. The child never went to school, living in the isolation of the family farm. For...

Hotta Tetsuaki

(1949 – 2015), Japan
Tetsuaki Hotta (1949) was born in Kyoto. His mother died when he was three and he was raised by his grandmother. When he was nineteen, he was...

Jaïn, Pierre

(1904-1967), France

Pierre Jain (1904–1967) was born into a farming family in Brittany, France. The young man completed his military service,...

Jakic, Vojislav

(1932-2003), Macedonia

Born in Radobiljici, Macedonia, Vojislav Jakic was the son of an Orthodox priest from Montenegro. While still a child, he suffered the...

Jayet, Aimable

(1883-1953), France

For a time, Aimable Jayet works as a butcher in Paris. In about 1934, he starts displaying signs of mental imbalance and, following an attempted...

Jove Junco, Josvedy

(1977), Cuba

Josvedy Jove Junco, known as El Sirio, draws striking figures he imagines from stories he invents himself. His works fuse reality and fantasy...

Juva (Alfred Antonin Juritzky)

(1887-1961), Austria

Born into a family of the Austrian nobility, Juva completes his humanities studies at the University of Vienna in 1910. Refusing to live under...

Kahmann, Anna

(1905-1995), Switzerland

Anna Kahmann began her creative activity at the age of eighty-seven, intrigued by the drawing materials of her artist daughter. At first, her...

Katharina

(circa1910 – ?), Austria

Katharina (circa 1910-?) was born into a bourgeois environment in Austria. After completing her business studies she worked in a textile factory...

Kernbeis, Franz

(1935 - 2019), Austria
Of Austrian origin, Franz Kernbeis was the youngest in a family of seven children. The boy attended primary school for eight years, then worked in...

Kocher, Pierre

(1923-2005), Switzerland

Pierre Kocher (1923–2005), aka Pilou, was born in Lausanne (Switzerland). As a person with a severe mental disability, he was committed to...

Kolb, Ernst

(1927 - 1993), Germany

Ernst Michael Kolb (1927-1993) was born in Mannheim, Germany. His father was a train driver and was therefore often absent while his mother, who...

Koochaki, Davood

(1939 - 2020), Iran

Davood Koochaki (1939) was born in Rasht, a city in the northwest of Iran. He left school at seven to work with his parents in the paddy fields....

Korec, Johann

(1937 - 2008), Austria

Vienna-born Johann Korec spent most of his childhood in specialised schools and institutions. From the age of fourteen he worked as a farmhand...

Kouw

(end of XIX), France
F. Kouw was born at the end of the nineteenth century. He was a patient in the Sainte-Anne hospital, in Paris, where his works were conserved by Dr...

Krüsi, Hans

(1920-1995), Switzerland

Hans Krüsi (1920–1995) was born in the Swiss canton of Appenzell. At the age of two he was adopted by a farming family, but eight...

Lamy, Marc

(1939), France

Marc Lamy (*1939) was born in Lyon, France, where his parents ran a mediaeval stained-glass workshop. After studying under the...

Lanca Bonifacio, Manuel

(1947), Portugal

Manuel Lanca Bonifacio (1947) was born in the Portuguese seaside city of Faro. Learning difficulties forced him to leave school early (already...

Lanz, Madeleine

(1936 - 2014), Switzerland

Born in Geneva (Switzerland), Madeleine Lanz was the second of four siblings. Her father was an electrician, her mother a housewife. As a child...

Le Gris, Fernande

(1922–2018), France

Fernande Le Gris (1922–2018) was born in Deauville, France. Leaving home at the age of fifteen, she had a number of jobs: bursar,...

The French Traveller

The works of the French Traveller entered the Art Brut collection in April 1966 with the donation of the collection of Dr Auguste Marie, chief...

Leclercq, Jean

(1951), Belgium

Jean Leclercq was born in Belgium's Liège region. Around 2003, when he was fifty-two, he began drawing at home and in the psychiatric...

Lecocq, Sylvain

(1900-1950), France

Working as a tradesman, Sylvain Lecocq marries and becomes the father of three boys. In 1942, he is operated on for an ulcer, giving up his job...

Lemaire, Philippe

(1954), Canada
Philippe Lemaire (b. 1954) was born in Montreal. Suffering from schizophrenia with autistic traits, he was hospitalised for the first time in 1975,...

Lesage, Augustin

(1876-1954), France

Augustin Lesage was born in Auchel, in the Pas-de-Calais region of France. Coming from a family of miners, he took up this trade in his turn. At...

Liabeuf, Jean-Jacques

 (1886 - 1910), France

Born in Saint-Etienne, southwest of Lyon, Jean-Jacques Liabeuf was brought up by his widowed mother after his father's death when he was four....

Lib, Stanislas

(1899-?), Poland
There is a dearth of information concerning Stanislas Lib. During a stint in a psychiatric hospital psychiatrique Saint-Jean de Dieu in Lille,...

Lobanov, Aleksander Pavlovitch

(1924-2003), Russia

Aleksander Pavlovitch Lobanov was born in Mologa, Russia. Following meningitis, the child became deaf and dumb and was affected by a weakening...

Lonné, Raphaël

(1910-1989), France

Raphaël Lonné was born in the Landes region of France. He worked as a postman in his village, Montfort-en-Chalosse. From 1937 he was...

Mackintosh, Dwight

(1906-1999), USA

Dwight Mackintosh was born in Hayward, California, USA. Until the age of 16 he lived in the family home, then he was sent successively to three...

Maisonneuve, Pascal-Désir

(1863-1934), France

Pascal-Désir Maisonneuve was born in Bordeaux, France. A mosaicist by training, he reconstructed Gallo-Roman mosaics and adorned several...

Mar., Jean

(1831-1911), Switzerland
Jean Mar. remained interned at the Vernets asylum from 1868 to 1900, before being transferred to the Bel-Air psychiatric hospital.  During his...

Marcomi

(unknown date)

Almost nothing, including his dates of birth and death, is known of the artist Marcomi, apart from his having spent a long period in a...

Martin, Félix Aimé

(1899-1984), France

Félix Aimé Martin (1899–1984) was born in Valence, south-eastern France. After completing primary schooling at the age of...

Marye, Simone

(1890 – 1961), France

Simone Marye (1890–1961) was born in Paris into a well-off, sophisticated family of doctors. She spent part of her childhood in South...

Matsumoto, Kunizo

(1962), Japan

Kunizo Matsumoto was born in Osaka, Japan. He worked as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant run by his relatives. At the same time, from 1985...

Meani, Angelo

(1906-1977), Italy

Angelo Meani was born in Milan, Italy, where his parents owned a marble workshop. He was very quickly initiated into the profession: he started...

Merle Auguste

(1858 – ?), France
Auguste Merle (1858–?) was born in Paris. He entered the Villejuif asylum in 1894, at the age of thirty-six, suffering from persecution mania and...

Merritt, Gene

(1936-2015), USA

Clyde Eugène Merritt, known as Gene Merritt (1936-2015), was born in Columbia, South Carolina. As a child, a bout of heavy fever injured...

Messou, Ezekiel

(1971), Benin
Within his sewing machine repair shop, hidden from outsiders, Ezekiel Messou fills his millimeter-squared school notebooks (8.3 in X 5.8 in) with a...

Metz, Reinhold

(1942), Germany

Reinhold Metz was born in Karlsruhe-Durlach, Germany. Raised by his grandmother, he wanted to become a writer or poet, but his manuscripts were...

Miller, Daniel

(1961), USA

Born in Castro Valley, California (USA), Daniel Miller, known as Dan Miller (1961), grew up in difficult family surroundings. He himself was a...

Miyama, Eijiro

(1934), Japan
Eijiro Miyama was born in Mie Prefecture, Japan. A loner, he never married and has always led a wandering sort of existence. He has had various...

Moindre, Joseph

(1888 – 1965), France

Joseph Moindre (1888–1965) was born in a rural district in Seine-Maritime, France. For six years he worked as a business broker in Paris,...

Monsiel, Edmund

(1897-1962), Poland

Edmund Monsiel (1897–1962) was born in Poland. He went to primary school and, several years later, had a small shop in a provincial town...

Morales Díaz, Miguel Ramón

(1948), Cuba

Miguel Ramón Morales Díaz relies on the support of people he knows in his old neighbourhood, where he likes to spend his days. He...

Morel, Bertha

(1891-1968), Switzerland

Bertha Morel (1891–1968), the last of nine children, was born in Montricher, in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. She was committed to the...

Moret, Marc

(1943 – 2021), Switzerland

Marc Moret (1943–2021) was born on a farm in Vuadens, in the Swiss canton of Fribourg. Since his parents and grandparents were country...

Morf, Jakob

(1922-2002), Germany

Jakob Morf (1922–2002) was born at Nürensdorf, in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Following the death of his parents he was placed...

Motooka, Hidenori

(1978), Japan
Motooka Hidenori was born in Hyôgo district and now lives in Kôbe in Japan. As a small child, he was intrigued by trains. He often goes to the...

Müller, Heinrich Anton

(1865-1930), France

Heinrich Anton Müller was born in Versailles (France). He married a Swiss girl and settled in her country, in Corsier-sur-Vevey (canton of...

Nannetti, Fernando Oreste

(1927-1994), Italy

Fernando Oreste Nannetti was born in Rome, of an unknown father. After finishing primary school the young boy was put into a charitable...

Nedjar, Michel

(1947), France

French artist Michel Nedjar was born in 1947 to a Jewish family of mixed Ashkenazi and Sephardic heritage. His father came from...

Neumayr, Alfred

(1958), Austria

Alfred Neumayr (1958 - 2021)

was born in Tulln (Lower Austria). Upon completing his compulsory schooling, he did a printer...

Ni Tanjung

(1930 - 2020), Indonesia

At nearly 80, and in the solitude of her windowless room, Ni Tanjung draws thousands of multicolored faces. Mainly she draws women's...

Nikifor

(1895 – 1968), Poland
Epifanius Drowniak, called Nikifor (1895– 1968), was born in Krynica, Poland. He came from Ruthenia, a cross-border region straddling Ukraine,...

Nishimura, Issei

(1978), Japan

Issei Nishimura (1978) was born and brought up in Nagoya, Japan. As a child, he particularly enjoyed drawing. After moving to Tokyo to study...

Nogarède, Eugénie

(1882–1951), Switzerland

For almost twenty-five years, Eugénie Nogarède wrote outsize calligraphic letters, decorated with collages, and in some cases...

Obata, Masao

(1943-2010), Japan

Masao Obata was born in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, on a small island where he spent his childhood. After his parents’ divorce he was raised by...

Oko, Ataa

(1919-2012), Ghana

Ataa Oko was born in La, Ghana. He first earned his living as a fisherman, before hiring out to work on the local cocoa planta-tions. After an...

Oui, Raymond (Raymond R.)

(1915-?), France
In about 1943, when around thirty, Raymond Oui, who has a serious mental handicap, is hospitalized in a psychiatric institution in Agen. Just as...

Palanc, Francis

(1928 - 2015), France

Francis Palanc was born in Vence, France, where his parents were pastry-cooks. At the age of 16, after finishing school, he joined the family...

Pankoks, Michael

(1894 – 1983), Latvia

Michael Pankoks (1894–1983) was born in Nica, Latvia, where his family ran a farm on the Baltic coast. He attended primary school, then...

Paris, Charles

(1901-?), France

Charles Paris (1901–?) was born in Paris, France. He first worked as a sales representative, then as a driver of a...

Perugi, Italo

(1900 – 1972), Italy

Italo Perugi (1900–1972) was from Torano, a small village north of Carrara, in Tuscany (Italy), not far from the famous white marble quarries....

Pigeon, Laure

(1882-1965), France

Laure Pigeon was born in Paris, France. Her mother, a professional laundress, died when Laure was five, leaving the little girl in the hands of...

Ploos van Amstel, Han

(1926 – 2004), Netherlands
Han Ploos van Amstel was born in Amsterdam, in The Netherlands. He was mentally handicapped and worked in a protected workshop making brooms and...

Podestà, Giovanni Battista

(1895-1976), Italy

Giovanni Battista Podestà was the thirteenth child in a Lombard farming family. His father died when he was still a little boy and he was...

Poladian, Vahan

(1902 ou 1905 - 1982), Armenia

Vahan Poladian was born in what was then Caesarea, Armenia. Confronted with the genocide of his people and the death of his father and older...

Portrat, François

(1884-1976), France
François Portrat was one of many siblings belonging to a farm family in a village in the department of Saône-et-Loire. At fifteen, the young boy...

Pous, Jean

(1875-1973), Spain

Jean Pous (1875-1973) was born in La Jonquera, a Catalan town very close to the French border. He had poor health as a child and didn’t go...

Prinz, Otto

(1906 – 1980), Austria
Otto Prinz (1906–1980) was born in Hollabrunn, in Austria. He worked as a butcher for several years. When he was mobilised during the Second World...

Pujolle, Guillaume

(1893-1971), France

Guillaume Pujolle (1893-1971) was born in Saint-Gaudens, France. As a teenager he worked in the workshop of his father, a cabinetmaker, before...

Rashidi, Mehrdad

(1963), Iran

Mehrdad Rashidi (1963) was born in the city of Sari, on the Caspian Sea (Iran). In 1983, as an opponent to the Iranian Islamic Republic, he and...

Ratier, Emile

(1894-1984), France

Emile Ratier was born into a farming family established in Soturac, in the region of western France. A farmer, the young man left the farm to go...

Raugei, Marco

(1958–2006), Italy
Marco Raugei (1958–2006) was born in Florence, in Italy, the eldest of four children in a working-class family. He attended primary school for...

Richoz, Martial

(1963 - 2024), Switzerland

Martial Richoz (1963 - 2024) was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, where his grandmother raised him. During the 1980s, the people of Lausanne knew...

Robertson, Royal

(1930 – 1997), USA

Royal Robertson (1936 - 1997) was born in Louisiana (USA). He lived in St. Mary Parish, his birthplace, and went on to settle in the city of...

Robillard, André

(1931), France

André Robillard (1931) grew up near Orléans, France. His father was a gamekeeper and as a child, André would follow him,...

Roussillon, Jean-Marie

(1953), France

Born in Bruges, near Bordeaux in France, Jean-Marie Roussillon was one of the five children of a manual labourer and a home help. His behaviour...

Ruffié, Jane

(1887 – 1976), France

Jane Ruffié (1887–1976) was born in the Haute-Garonne region of France. She completed her high school studies but never entered a...

Saguer, Jaime

(1896- ?), Spain
Of Spanish origin, Jaime Saguer works as a farmhand in the Pyrénées-Orientales. He is sectioned in Limoux in 1942, after being charged with...

Saletmeier, Hans

(1950), Austria
Hans Saletmeier (b. 1950) was born in Kirchdorf, Austria. He was the youngest in a family of seven children. Physically and mentally handicapped...

Salingardes, Henri

(1872-1947), France

Henri Salingardes (1872-1947) was born in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, in the Aveyron region of France, where his parents had a small restaurant....

Santoro, Eugenio

(1920-2006), Italy

Eugenio Santoro was born in Castelmezzano in Basilicate, a region in southern Italy. After five years of elementary schooling he undertook an...

Savoy, Gaston

(1923-2004), Switzerland
A native of Attalens, in the canton of Fribourg (Switzerland), Gaston Savoy grew up and lived on the family farm. When, by the age of nine, he was...

Sawada, Shinichi

(1982), Japan

Shinichi Sawada  was born in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Upon completing several years of study in a specialized school, he was received into...

Scheiböck, Johann

(1905 – unknown date), Austria

Johann Scheiböck (1905 – date unknown) was born in Austria. His parents were farmers and he attended school for seven years before learning the...

Schöpke, Philipp

(1921-1998), Austria

Philipp Schöpke (1921-1998) was born in Lower Austria. He attended school for four years, and was forced to leave after repeatedly failing to...

Schulthess, Armand

(1901-1972), Switzerland
Armand Schulthess was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He attended commercial college before doing an apprenticeship in an import–export company....

Scott, Judith

(1943-2005), USA

Judith Scott was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Afflicted by Down’s syndrome, she lived with her family in her early years, together with...

Settembrini, Franca

(1946–2003), Italie

Franca Settembrini (1946–2003) was born in Florence, Italy. She was admitted to the paediatric department in the...

Shuji, Takashi

(1974 - 2021), Japan

Takashi Shuji was born in the town of Nishinomiya, in Hyogo Prefecture. After finishing his education in a specialist school at the age of...

Šimankov, Valentin

(1962) Russia

Born in Smolensk in what was still the USSR, Valentin Šimankov enrolled in the 1980s at the Art School in Leningrad (re-named St...

Sirvins, Marguerite

(1890-1957), France

Born in the Lozère region of France, Marguerite Sirvins came from a bourgeois family. At the age of 41 she displayed schizophrenic...

Smith , Richard C.

(1950-2024), Great-Britain

Richard C. Smith (1950) is the third of four children born to a family of modest means in a large suburb of London. He had trouble at school,...

Smith, Lewis

(1907 – 1998), USA

Born in the state of Ohio, in the United States, Lewis Smith (1907-1998) began to draw in 1920. Thanks to his father's job as an employee of a...

Sorgente, Palmerino

(1920-2005), Italy

Palmerino Sorgente (1920–2005) was born in Umbria, Italy. He was mobilized during the Second World War and immigrated to Canada in 1954...

Spiller, Rolf

(1960), Germany

Rolf Spiller (b. 1960) is a German-born artist and the eldest of four siblings. He began drawing at the age of four, following an approach that...

Steffen, Charles

(1927-1995), USA

Born to a family of eight children in Chicago, at the age of twenty-eight Charles Steffen took up studies at the Chicago Institute of Design, a...

Tassini, Pascal

(1955), Belgium
Pascal Tassini (1955), was born into a a family of three children, in Ans (Belgium). A victim of Down's Syndrome, he did not attend school. His...

Teuscher, Gaston

(1903 - 1986), Switzerland

Gaston Teuscher was born to a farming family settled in Montherod, near Aubonne (Switzerland). His mother, with whom he was particularly close,...

Thiébault, Denis

(1954), France

Denis Thiébault (1954) was born in Montmorency, France, one of six children in a family originally from the Champagne and Lorraine...

Titov, Yuri

(1928 - 2017), Russia
Yuri Titov (1928) was born in the town of Strunino, in the Vladimir region of Russia. In 1947, Yuri Titov graduated from the Moscow Institute...

Touilleux, Bernadette

(1924 - 2010), France

Bernadette Touilleux (1923 – 2010) was born in Rive-de-Gier, in the department of Loire, near Lyon (France), becoming the eighth of...

Travis, Frank

(1914 – 1976), Canada

Frank Travis (1914-1976) was born in Toronto, Canada. Both of his parents were actively involved in the theatre. As a child he was unhealthily...

Tripier, Jeanne

(1869-1944), France

Jeanne Tripier was born in Paris, France. The daughter of a wine merchant, she spent her childhood in the country, then settled in the...

Tromelin, comte de

(1850 – 1920), France

Gustave Le Goarant de Tromelin, aka comte de Tromelin (1850–1920), was born in Brest, France. In 1868 he obtained his diploma from the...

Trösch, Johann

(1924 – 1984), Switzerland

Johann Trösch (1924–1984) was born in Zurich, Switzerland, with a serious spinal malformation. Paralysed from the waist down, he...

Trouvé, Alfred

(1911 - 1995), France

Alfred Trouvé was born in the village of Boisne, in western France. The younger son of a farming family, he worked as the local postman,...

Tschirtner, Oswald

(1920-2007), Austria

Oswald Tschirtner was born near Vienna, Austria. From an early age he displayed a desire to become a priest and, aged ten, he was placed in a...

Tsuji, Yuji

(1977), Japan

Yuji Tsuji (1977) was born in Aichi prefecture, Japan. He now lives in the city of Toyohashi. He has kept a ‘picture diary’ since he...

Urasco, Berthe

(1898 – ?), Switzerland

Berthe Urasco (1898–?) was born in Geneva, Switzerland. She studied piano and singing when she was young, but stopped practising these...

Valdés Dilla, Damián

(1970), Cuba

Damián Valdés Dilla (1970, Havana) built his first model city using small bits of wood when he was about forty years old. He...

Valeiras, Ofelia

(1900-?), Argentina

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Ofelia Valeiras (1900–?) came from a family of seven brothers and three sisters. Her father was a shopkeeper...

Valence, Pepe de

(1952), Spain
Pepe de Valence (1952) was born in a village near Valencia, Spain. A serious illness contracted when he was nine months old left him severely ...

van Genk, Willem

(1927-2005), Netherlands

Willem van Genk (1927–2005) was born in Voorburg, in the Netherlands, the only boy in a family of ten children. He lost his mother when he...

Victor-François

(? — ?)

Virtually all we know of this figure is his first name, Victor-François (?–?). He was institutionalised with a diagnosis of...

Vignes, Pépé

(1920 – 2007), France
Pépé Vignes (Joseph Vignes) was born in Paris, France, one of five children. He played the accordion at public dances and worked as a singer, then...

Von Bruenchenhein, Eugene

(1910-1983), USA

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910-1983) was born in Marinette, Wisconsin, USA. He was the youngest of three sons. His father was a sign painter in...

Vonlanthen, Pascal

(1957), Suisse

Pascal Vonlanthen and his seven siblings grew up on the family farm in Rossens, a village in the Canton of Fribourg. Until his retirement, he...

Waedemon, Victor

(?-1945), Belgium
We know nothing of the life of Victor Waedemon prior to his stay in the neuropsychiatric unit in Brussels, where he is interned from 1936 until his...

Wagemann, Theodor, dit Théo

(1918-1998), Germany

Theo (1918–1998) was born in a small village near Aachen, in Germany, where his father was a stonemason. When he was twelve, he became...

Walla, August

(1936-2001), Austria

August Walla was born in Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, Austria. Following his father’s death the child was raised by his grandmother and...

Way, Melvin

(1954 - 2024), USA

Melvin Way (1954) was born in Ruffin County, South Carolina (USA). Any biographical data available is sketchy. He spent his childhood between...

Wey, Aloïs

(1894 – 1985), Switzerland
Born in Murg, in the canton of Saint- Gall, Switzerland, Aloïs Wey (1894– 1985) is the eldest of seven children. When he was fourteen, he left...

Widener, George

(1962), USA

George Widener (b. 1962) was born in Covington, Kentucky, USA. His father died when the boy was nine and his mother was confined as a result of...

Wild, Clemens

(1964), Suisse

Clemens Wild was born in Bern to a family of booksellers. A difficult birth left him visually impaired and developmentally delayed. In 1982, at...

Wilson, Scottie

(1888-1972), Scotland

Scottie Wilson (Louis Freemann) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He never went to school and remained illiterate. At the age of 16 he joined the...

Wittlich, Josef

(1903-1982), Germany

Josef Wittlich (1903 - 1982) was born in Gladbach, a village in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. When he was four years old, his...

Wnek, Maria

(1922 – 2005), Poland

Maria Wnek (1922–2005) was born into a large family in Olszanka, Poland. After their home was burnt down, the family had to find...

Wölfli, Adolf

(1864-1930), Switzerland

Adolf Wölfli was born in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. At the age of seven he was abandoned by his father. The boy remained alone with...

Wyss, Eugène

(dates unknown), Switzerland

The works by Eugène Wyss (dates unknown) come from the cabinet of Dr Charles Ladame, former chief medical officer at the Bel-Air Clinic,...

Yeomans, Brooks

(1957), USA

Brooks Yeomans (1957) was born in Cleveland County, North Carolina, USA. He suffered from a slight intellectual disability but had a happy...

Yoshida, Shuzo

(1956), Japan

Shuzo Yoshida (1956) was born in Japan and began making clay models as soon as he entered the Ichibaku-Home in Shiga prefecture in 1967, at the...

Zablatnik, Erich

(1942 – 1995), Austria
Erich Zablatnik was born in Klagenfurt, Austria. He attended school to secondary level, then did odd jobs until his military service began. He then...

Zagajewski, Stanislaw

(c. 1927 - 2008), Poland

Stanislaw Zagajewski was abandoned by his mother at the age of two in front of a church in Warsaw, Poland. He was then placed in various...

Zemánková, Anna

(1908-1986), Czech Republic

Anna Zemánková was born in Olomouc, Moravia. After leaving school she worked as a dental technician before getting married and...

Zéphir, Henriette

(1920-2012), France

Born in Montmaurin, near Toulouse (France), Henriette Zéphir (1920–2012) was brought up by her grandparents until the age of...

Zinelli, Carlo

(1916-1974), Italy

Carlo Zinelli was born near Verona, Italy. He was only two years old when his mother died. Seven years later his father, a carpenter by trade,...

Živkovic, Bogosav

(1920–2005), Serbia

Bogosav Živkovic (1920–2005) was born in the village of Leskovac, in the municipality of Lazarevac, near Belgrade, Serbia. Born into a...